Aldrin Unveils New UC Products At Plantronics 50th Anniversary

Networking equipment maker Plantronics secured the help of Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin to launch three new unified communications (UC) products at an event celebrating the company's 50th anniversary.

The products include a new UC headset, a UC speaker phone and a UC kit for enterprise users.

The launch event saw Aldrin, who is famous for being the second ever man to walk on the moon after Neil Armstrong in 1969, signing copies of his autobiography. He also spoke about his experience in space, during which he used a Plantronics headset.

The state-of-the-art Voyager PRO UC Bluetooth headset comes with smart sensors, which allows users to answer phone calls by simply placing the headset on their ears.

The company also informed that the headset software is customisable and is designed to work with both mobile devices and PC phone clients like Skype. The device can also seemlessly switch between the two.

The Calisto 825 speakerphone is also designed to work with both landline and mobile devices.

Bob Hafner, managing vice president of Mobile and Client Computing, Gartner, said in a statement: “Unified communications is bringing together different communications modalities and devices. We will move between our PCs, mobile phones, and deskphones seamlessly.”

The Voyager Pro UC headset will launch in Europe from February priced at £200. The Calisto 825 will cost £259.95 and is on sale from spring 2011.